Che brutto! Italian election results

Good news for New Labour from Italy. Tony Blair’s second favourite holiday host Silvio Berlusconi has been re-elected as prime minister. You’d think Italians would be bored with elections but according to the Ministry of the Interior just over 80% of eligible voters went to the polls and 46.8%, or 17,063,874 of them voted for…

Liam

April 15, 2008

2–3 minutes

The results were not good for the left, in particular for the far left. Walter Veltroni’s Partito Democratico in coalition with an outfit called Italia dei valori (Italy of values – whatever that means) scored 37.5% and got 239 seats. Fausto Bertinotti’s La Sinistra L’arcobaleno (Rainbow left- what a crap name) got just over one million votes and 3% of the vote.

For readers of this site Sinistra Critica’s 167 673 votes (0.46%) can either be interpreted in a lot of votes for class struggle, not bad for a new formation on its first electoral outing or a bit of a setback. What follows is a loose translation of an article from their website with a couple of interjections from me. If there is enough interest I’ll flesh it out a bit later.

If you want more detail on Sinistra Critica’s split from Rifondazione have a look at this piece from International Viewpoint.

Flavia D’angeli of Sinistra Critica says that Bertinotti has thrown away fifteen years of the combative left’s history and that responsibility this defeat can be put at the feet of L’arcobaleno’s leadership. She argues that what was beaten in this election was the centre left’s idea in recent years that Berlusconi could be beaten with moderate politics and by trying to assemble a coalition of forces that could not be brought together.

Looking on the bright side Flavia says that the only thing to be done is to re-build. Tell me about it!

Sinistra Critica’s small but precious vote is giving us the push to get on with this enormous job. The far left could have crossed the 1% threshold and won both strength and credibility if the Partito comunista dei lavatori hadn’t conducted its introspective campaign. Does that remind you of anything?

The rebuilding will have to be based on the movements and the social opposition. Sinistra Critica is ready to help rebuild an opposition movement to the the neo-liberal politics which rely on insecurity of jobs and working conditions, war, environmental devastation and Vatican interference.

On the political level we are once again proposing an anti-capitalist constituent assembly which will have nothing in common with identity based and symbolic nostalgia. Hmmm. Sounds like someone has bad memories of something. She insists that no generic appeal for “Communist unity” can resolve the dreadful state in which the left finds itself.

It’s going to take a lot of hard work for a long time but we are ready to do it.

Thanks to Pierre for pointing out this article from A’lencontre which has an interview with Sinistra Critica’s Lidia Cirillo. If anyone wants to translate it I’ll post it.

9 responses to “Che brutto! Italian election results”

entdinglichung

April 15, 2008 at 12:12 pm

the two other revolutionary marxist groups got 208.394 – 0,57% (PCL) and 2049 – 0,01% (PAV) of the votes

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martin ohr

April 15, 2008 at 12:32 pm

Liam,

I posted a reply to you on the Socialist Unity blog but it was deleted in seconds. Am I wasting my time by reposting it here?

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Liam

April 15, 2008 at 1:12 pm

Er my psychic powers are pretty limited Martin. If you observe the comments policy you get the same latitude as everyone else.

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martin ohr

April 15, 2008 at 1:18 pm

well you haven’t in the past, but I’ll give it a try

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Pete Shield

April 16, 2008 at 12:49 pm

The Italian elections were a disaster- there is no other words for it. For the left green representation falling from 84 for various shades of communists to zero and the greens from 15 to zero is nothing short of a catastrophe for the Left.

Yes it was partially to do with the changes in the election system but the blame really needs to rest on the leadership of the Fautso Bertinotti of the Rainbow Left Alliance, and also on the ‘old style’ electoral calculations of both the RLA and the groups that split/were forced out of it, the CPL and the SC.

From a UK perspective it is easy to point to the sad fact that the elements of the RL alliance voted for the continual presence of Italian troops in Iraq- while this lead to splits and expulsions with the PRC- it does not seem have been a defining factor for voters- indeed in central and Southern Italy many ex-communist voters switched to the Democrats, who were the force backing the vote for continual involvement.

I think two factors where more powerful on the ground- firstly the fact that the involvement of the Communists in the government has done nothing to protect the interests of the Italian working class- who’s standard of living has fallen in the two years of the Prodi coalition- as they have else where across Europe, and the related problems of unemployment and perceived ‘threat’ of immigration- particularly in the North, where it would appear large swathes of the old industrial Milan- Turin belt red vote moved across to the Northern League and the National Alliance in a sadly classic switch of the alienated, marginal vote from one extreme to another.

The disconnect of the RL alliance from their working class base, while not been completely severed is in serious jeopardy throughout the country- maybe a few years away from national politics will do it some good, it must also be a period where the left pulls its ship back together. At an electoral level there is no room for the electorate to be faced with three or more Communist Parties- with the resignation of the PRC leadership now is an ideal time to try nad bury that history.

Will it happen- extremely doubtful- too many bridges to burn, to many egos on all sides, and once again the working class will suffer while its various self proclaimed leaders prefer to sit on their small fiefdoms pouring scorn on those closest to them.

As Nero might have said, ‘Where’s my fiddle?’

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George T

April 16, 2008 at 4:14 pm

I think Veltroni massively miscalcualted by thinking dumping RC from his coalition would lead his group to become more popular. Also RC/Bertinotti received a slap in the face from Veltroni and must now realise that they gained nothing from being in Government – it lost them credibility. Sinistra Critica were right to part with Bertinotti/RC in circumstances where they were supporting Veltroni’s Government uncritically and trying to silence the SC opposition. Nevertheless SC must realsise that they made little impresion in the elections. There is a critical reassessment needed by the whole of the left – SC must engage with this and try to influence debate amongst RC comrades and Veltroni’s base. The far left in Italy may wish to learn a few lessons from the LCR in France and its relationship to the SP.

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jim jay

April 16, 2008 at 5:46 pm

But surely SC’s tactics shouldn’t just be judged by whether they paid off for this election (which is important of course) but where they go from here… are they sustainable as an independent organisation?

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Pierre PETIT

April 17, 2008 at 9:51 am

There’s an interview in French of Lidia Cirillo, who belongs to the leadership of Sinistra Critica, on the Swiss website alencontre.org

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Pete Shield

April 17, 2008 at 10:47 am

Thanks for the link Pierre

JimJay- I agree but I still have this nagging doubt in the back of mind that the PRC/SC split is based on grandstanding and egos (On both sides) hidden behind political rhetoric and objectively by splitting the left of the DP vote they have robbed the left of a very important platform- as Pierres article describes it the left has committed ‘policide’.

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